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June 24, 2014

By Evan Andrews
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Going back to ancient history, some of the worlds most feared fighting forces were
made up of freelance warriors who werent aligned with any particular nation or king.
Many of these soldiers of fortune were little more than glorified killers who sold their
skills to the highest bidder and switched sides at will, but others employed rigorous
codes of honor and chains of command as sophisticated as most national militaries. Get
the facts on six of historys most infamous and influential private armies.

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As chronicled in the historian Xenophons Anabasis, the Ten Thousand were a motley assortment of Greek
warriors contracted by Cyrus the Younger to help oust his brother King Artaxerxes II from the Persian throne. In
401 B.C., the Hellenic soldiers-for-hiremany of them hardened veterans of the Peloponnesian Warfought
alongside Cyrus and his rebel army in a clash with the Kings forces near Baghdad. While the Ten Thousand
held their own in combat, Cyrus was killed in the battle, and the mercenaries generals were double-crossed and
murdered while trying to negotiate a retreat.
Under pursuit from Artaxerxes IIs troops and hostile natives alike, the surviving members of the Ten Thousand
were forced to band together and fight their way out of enemy territory. After electing Xenophon as one of their

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new leaders, the army of rogues embarked on a grueling nine-month odyssey that took them from the heart of
Babylonia all the way to the Greek Black Sea port at Trapezus. Despite facing constant ambushes, punishing
weather and famine, they arrived on friendly soil with nearly three fourths of their numbers still intact.

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Xenophons account of the Ten Thousands fighting retreat has since become a classic tale of heroism, and even
served as the inspiration for the 1979 cult film The Warriors.

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The White Company was one of the most infamous of the so-called free companiesbands of for-profit

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1360s before falling under the command of Sir John Hawkwood, an Englishman who had been knighted for his
service in the Hundred Years War. With Hawkwood at the helm, the White Company became known as one of
the most elite mercenary armies in Italy. Its troopsa cultural hodgepodge of English, German, Breton and

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Company made a killing auctioning their services off to the highest bidder. Between 1363 and 1388, they fought
both for and against the Pope, the city of Milan and the city of Florence, but they were rarely out of the field even
during times of peace. In fact, when unemployed, the adventurers often kept their coffers full by launching raids

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Today, the Swiss Guard is known as striped-uniformed protectors of the Pope in the Vatican, but their history
stretches back to bands of mercenaries that flourished during the Renaissance. More than one million Swiss
adventurers fought in Europes armies between the 15th and 19th centuries. These troops were among the first
European soldiers to master the use of pikes and halberds against more heavily armored foes, and by the
1400s, their revolutionary tactics and sheer ruthlessness had earned them a reputation as the best contract
troops money could buy. Swiss mercenaries often worked for the French, and they fought and died in large
numbers during the French Revolution.
A small contingent of 150 Swiss soldiers of fortune began serving as papal bodyguards in 1506, and the unit
endured as the official watchmen of the Vatican even after Switzerland banned its citizens from working as
mercenaries. Still clad in their brightly colored Renaissance-era uniforms, the Swiss Guards of today are
required to be Roman Catholics, stand at least 5 foot 6 inches tall and have a military background. Their role is
often ceremonial, but in the past they have been required to fight to protect the pontiff. During one attack on
Rome in 1527, nearly four-fifths of the Swiss Guard were slain while defending Pope Clement VII from capture.

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Officially known as the American Volunteer Group, the famed Flying Tigers were a three-squadron force of
fighter pilots who fought with the Chinese against the Japanese during World War II. The unit was first organized
in early 1941 in the months just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Eager to impede the Japanese takeover of
China while still remaining neutral, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed former U.S. military officer Claire
Chennault to quietly recruit fighter jocks from the ranks of the U.S. Army Air Force. The risks were high, but so
was the pay: while most Air Force pilots received a salary of around $260 a month, Chennaults mercenaries
earned between $600 and $750, along with a $500 bonus for each Japanese aircraft they shot down.
Around one hundred American contract pilots arrived in Burma in mid-1941, where they were assigned to protect
a crucial supply road from Japanese attacks. The Flying Tigersfamous for the iconic rows of shark teeth
painted on the noses of their P-40 fighterswent on to rack up an unprecedented combat record. Despite flying
slower, less maneuverable fighters than the enemy, the Americans downed 296 Japanese aircraft and destroyed
more than 1,300 riverboats, all while only losing 69 planes and some two-dozen men. The group was officially
disbanded in July 1942, but some of its members later rejoined their old units and served for the remainder of
World War II.

First organized in 1302 by the adventurer Roger de Flor, the Catalan Grand Company was primarily composed
of rugged Spanish veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers in Italy. Left unemployed at the conflicts end, De
Flor and his mercenaries contracted themselves to the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II, who brought them to
the Eastern Mediterranean to fight off invading Ottoman Turks. The 6,500-strong Catalans succeeded in
sweeping the Turks away from Constantinople, but their penchant for wanton sacking and looting also drew the
ire of the Byzantines. In 1305, De Flor and some 1,300 of his men were ambushed and killed by another group
of mercenaries in the Emperors employ.
Rather than disband, the surviving Catalans embarked on one of the bloodiest and most bewildering adventures
in medieval military history. Following an abortive attempt to establish an outlaw state in Gallipoli, they marched
to Greece and found work as muscle for the Duke of Athens. But when a dispute arose over back pay, the
Catalans once again went to war with a former employer. After crushing the Greek armies and killing the Duke at
1311s Battle of Kephissos, they found themselves the de facto lords of the Duchy of Athens. Amazingly, the
mercenaries managed to consolidate their power and rule over large swaths of Greece for more than 75 years
until an army from Florence finally defeated them in battle. The remnants of the Catalan Grand Company
disbanded shortly thereafter.

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The descendants of Norsemen who originally ventured south as pirates and traders, the Varangian Guard were
a band of Viking mercenaries paid to serve as the personal bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor. The Guard first
took up their post in the late 10th century for the Emperor Basil II, who preferred the axe-wielding barbarians to
his more easily corruptible countrymen. The unit immediately proved useful in putting down a rebellion, and they
went on to serve as the protectors of Constantinople for over two hundred years.
At first, the Varangian Guard was almost entirely composed of hard-fighting, hard-drinking Vikings, but by the
late 11th century their ranks began to be filled out by Englishmen, Normans and Danes. Winning entrance into
the unit was no easy task. Initiates had to demonstrate their prowess in battle, and were forced to pay a small
fortune in gold as an entrance fee. Still, the gifts showered on the Varangians ensured that its members left
extremely wealthy, and some even went on to achieve positions of immense power. One of the most famous
guardsmen was Harald Hardrada, who later claimed the throne of Norway.

Did You Know?


The Pinkerton National Detective Agency served as a mercenary police force in the United States for much
of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The company was renowned for its relentless pursuit of Old West
outlaws, and at its height it boasted more men than the standing U.S. Army. It was later condemned for its
violent role in strikebreaking and other anti-union activities, most famously after 1892s deadly Homestead
Strike.

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